Hello everyone, Something new to learn, or revise! The immortal words of The Clash, singing, "Should I stay or should I go," are what run through a prospects mind every time they visit a new site--that is, unless your home page gives the right impression immediately. To ensure that your home page is perfectly honed to receive visitors, here are a few simple tweaks you can make: 1. Loading Time - Never assume that most of your visitors will have a broadband Internet connection, or posses a download speed that can handle a home page with a large k size. Many of your visitors will still be on a 56k modem and won't even bother with your site if it takes more than 20 seconds to download. To ensure a speedy download, keep your home page design clean and simple. Make sure your images are compressed as this minimizes the download time. 2. A Taste of What's to Come - People come to your site hoping for a great deal, an unbeatable offer, so don't hide your best products or offers where visitors have to search for them. Showcase some of your best features on the home page so visitors will know right away what you have to offer. 3. Links - Links are the gateway to important destinations on your site. They make the navigation process quicker and easier for your visitors, so be sure to keep that area of the home page clean and simple. Most visitors look to the top or the left side of the page for links, so don't try to be unique by putting them in some obscure area. You will just make it harder for your visitors to find them. Use eye-catching icons near your links to draw the visitor's eye, but don't go overboard. Remember that simplicity is the key to easy navigation. You want to draw the visitor's attention but not annoy them with a jumble of graphics. -----Just one last word ,dont forget to use your 404 NOT FOUND PAGE,use it to redirect your traffic. Don't let this traffic get away! (something even I have to do) Thanks Leanne Busby Post a free ad! http://epage.com/js/csp/45624.html

Hi Leanne, Thanks for the tips. I heard recently that you get about 10 seconds to capture a man's attention and 7 or 8 seconds to get a woman's attention when they first hit your page. Or maybe it was the other way around... anyway, doesn't matter. The point is, it's not long, so I'd add to the above something about having something to keep their attention at the top of the page and at the bottom. A lot of people go to a site, read the headline then scroll to the bottom to scan it quickly. You almost need to use subliminal techniques to hold them long enough to actually read anything.

Thanks for sharing the info Leanne. I recently did this just about 1-2 months ago with a close friend here at Adland. She was such a big help to me :) It is very important to have it set up just so or you can't catch the visitors attention quick enough. I would love to try more tweaking bbut I'm not sure what needs to be done. It's all new to me. Wishhing you well. Thanks for sharing.

Dear Leanne, Thank you. Looks like I need to get compressing! Sincerely,

Hi Andrew, I know veiwing many websites myself it's a quick look,another point is that you should have all your links open in a new page, so that it's still up when they want to go back and look some more. Good point Andrew thanks for posting. Leanne Busby Post a free ad! http://epage.com/js/csp/45624.html